During the installation of new network equipment, several hundreds of transmitters are taken into operation by connecting the transmitters to multiplex devices. Multiplex devices have several tens of input fibers, therefore, making it easy to erroneously connect the wrong transmitter to the wrong input. Low bit rate signaling allows a transmitter to send a known on-off keying sequence, and thereby identify the optical port to which the transmitter is connected. While there are a variety of options for allowing the transmitter to identify itself by implementing low bit rate signals, most have undesirable drawbacks and limitations.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.